


looking down from the rooftop

by aryelee



Series: fragile little things [2]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Suicide, help these children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 12:54:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12817968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryelee/pseuds/aryelee
Summary: Chat's been off since the akuma attack that morning. Ladybug finally gets to ask what happened during patrol.She wonders if she would have been better off not knowing.(comes directly after chapter nine/ten of translations of the heart)





	looking down from the rooftop

**Author's Note:**

> from ladybug's pov, written in like 30 minutes. contains mentions of suicide.

After the akuma attack against Black Swan, Ladybug couldn't help but notice something was off with her partner.

He was strangely quiet, lost in thought with a look of worry and fear on his face. It started small, just him biting his lip as he did sometimes when he was thinking hard about something. But after her cure, after the wreckage Black Swan had cause, Chat had gone to make sure Chloe was okay and get her back to her room.

Ladybug left it to him, quickly getting to cover before her time was up. Chat hadn't used his Cataclysm, so he had all the time in the world.

The way he looked made her wonder if he had detransformed at all that day.

He keeps quiet during patrol, and the night air felt too cold to her. They stop near Notre Dame, and Chat looks at the chapel with something raw and overwhelmingly sad in his eyes.

Enough was enough.

"Chat," she says, grabbing his arm to keep him from jumping away. "Is everything okay?"

He startles, looks at her with wide eyes, and forces a smile. "Yeah, of course! Are you worried about me, my lady?" His tone is light, but his eyes are flat and there's still a crease in his brow; Chat's just trying to act like everything is fine but Ladybug can see through it easily.

"Did something happen today? You've been off since the akuma attack."

"I'm just tired! Who knew dancing could take so much energy?" He laughs and looks away. Ladybug narrows her eyes and tightens her grip on his arm.

"Chat," she says, "You don't have to tell me, but I'm here if you do. Whatever's bothering you, you don't deal with it alone, okay?"

He's silent for a long moment, turned away from her. Below them, the headlights of moving cars throw up light all around them. The sounds of the busy night life turn into white noise against the beating of her heart. Chat's still, so still it's almost unnatural, with how he's always so full of energy, constantly moving and smiling and laughing.

 _What happened?_ She thinks, slowly letting go of Chat and lowering her arm. _What happened to you today, minou?_

Chat takes a deep breath, and looks up. "If you saw someone about to jump off a building, you'd save them right?" he asks, and Ladybug feels her breath knocked out of her lungs, leaving her drowning under the night sky. Chat doesn't take his eyes off the city below him. She can't see his expression, but his voice is quiet and helpless and so, so sad.

"Of course," she says past a throat that's too tight. "What happened today, Chat?"

"What about after?" he asks, ignoring her question. "How do you save them then? How do you save them from whatever got them up on that roof in the first place?"

"Chat," she says, more forcefully despite the way her hands shake, _"What happened?"_

When he turns to her, there are tears in his eyes. "She looked like she was going to jump," he says, and his voice is breaking, shattering, despite the tired smile on his face. "When she looked at me, her eyes were so empty. It was like she already died. And then she passed out, right there at the edge of the roof, and I almost didn't make it in time."

He chokes on a few of the words, forcing them out as though they hurt, lodged in his chest like iron nails.

Ladybug swallows, and somehow finds the strength to ask, "Who?"

"Chloe. It was Chloe."

The world stops, crashes and crumbles at the world, and Ladybug sucks in a shocked breath at the words. "What?" she hears herself say, but it's muffled, like she's hearing everything from underwater.

"Chloe," Chat says again. "I've noticed it for a while now. How scared she is. How-- how empty she seems. She's disappearing and dying and I don't know how to save her." He's openly crying now, shaking and scared and Ladybug can't help him, not when her body's frozen solid.

"Ladybug," he murmurs, "we're heroes right?" He doesn't wait for an answer. "Why can't I save her?"

A sob forces its way out of his mouth, and then he's hunched over, curling into himself as he cries. That shakes Ladybug out of her frozen state. She doesn't hesitate to reach over and pull him into a hug, stroking his hair soothingly as he clings to her and sobs into her shoulder. His grip on her borders painful, but she can deal with it, especially when he's in more pain.

"Oh, _minou_ ," she sighs, blinking tears out of her eyes, "I don't know. I'm sorry. The most we can do is try to help her when she needs us. I'm sorry."

Chloe is a brat, the bully, the spoiled rich girl who takes enjoyment in tearing down others. She steals other's works and claims them as her own, never puts effort into anything, and has everything handed to her on a silver platter.

But that last week of school, she was tired and quiet and yes, she was rude, but sometimes she'd look over and see fear on Chloe's face, just for a moment. Despite the years they've spent in the same classroom, she suddenly realizes that she doesn't know Chloe at all. She doesn't think that anyone does.

They end patrol there, wiping away each other's tears. It's quiet around them, the atmosphere heavy and almost suffocating.

They don't say goodbye when they leave to go home. They don't say anything at all, too lost in their thoughts.

"Tikki?" Marinette asks before they drift off and fall asleep, "Chloe..."

Tikki brushes her bangs out of her eyes and leans her head against Marinette's forehead. "I know," she says, "I know."

"I never thought Chloe would... I never knew she was doing so badly."

"It's not your fault. You are not responsible for everything."

She sighs and curls up tighter, tugging her blanket up to her chin. "She's awful to everyone and has caused most of the class to become akumas, but..." she trails off, unable to find the words that swirl chaotically through her head.

"People are complex," Tikki says, "It's not an easy matter of right or wrong. She may be doing it because she enjoys hurting others, or there might be another reason. Unless she tells us, we won't know. But this is more than good or bad, black or white."

"I wish I could help her."

"Not even heroes can save everyone, Marinette. Sometimes people have to save themselves."

"And what happens if they don't save themselves?"

Tikki doesn't respond. They both know the answer anyways.

It's not the answer Marinette wants. None of this is anything she wants.

 _"We're heroes right?"_ Chat had asked. _Yes_ she wants to say, but she's never felt so helpless before.


End file.
